"The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but tominister, and to give His life a ransom for many."Matthew 20:28 .

THE Master was impressing upon His hearers
the difference between Himself and other
great kings.
He had come to be King of
Israel, in fulfilment of Scripture prophecy.
Unlike earthly rulers He was not seeking to
learn how much He could get out of the
people, but how much He could do for the
people.
He was not selfish.
He was not
trying to see how little He could serve and
how much others could serve Him; but on
the contrary, how little others might do for Him and how
much He could do for others.
And this is His expectation
in respect to His followers.
He and His disciples,
called with a Heavenly Calling, called to a Heavenly Kingdom,
are not called to be selfish or to appropriate honors
to themselves for their own gratification; but they are
called to serviceespecially to the service of the people
of God.
This is the true meaning of the word minister;
namely, one who serves.

It is especially appropriate that all who are followers
of the Lord Jesus should remember that we have each
been called to service; and that those who are ministering
in spiritual things, those who are especially known by the
name of "minister," should bear in mind that theirs is an
office which calls for service, not to themselves, but to
others; and that they have consecrated their lives thus to
serve.
Our Lord entered upon His ministry at His consecration.
Of His life previous to His baptism at Jordan,
the Scriptures say very little, so that the more attention
may be attracted to His three and a half years of ministry
in the Truth, when He was laying down His life
for othersfor His friends and also for His foes.

The same is true of all His followers.
Our ministry
begins at the time of our consecration.
We are not authorized
to minister, or serve, in holy things until we
have entered upon the way which the Lord has pointed
out to us.
We are not today, however, obliged to wait
until we have reached the age of thirty before we begin
our ministry; but at as early an age as we can comprehend
what we are engaging to perform, we may give
our lives to the Lord and to the service of the Truth and
of the brethren.
This is because we are not under the Law covenant.Romans 3:19.

Our Lord speaks of Himself as the Son of Man, who
came to "minister, and to give His life a Ransom for
many."
He was indeed the Son of God, even while He
was the Son of Man.
The perfect man Adam, before his
fall into sin, was a son of God.
Our Lord in calling Himself
the Son of Man was emphasizing the fact that He
was no longer on the spirit plane, but on the human plane.
He came to earth for a specific purposeas He explained,
to minister, to serve.
He could not have done the necessary
service for man as a spirit being.
The requirement
was that He should become a man in order to ransom
mankind.
He could ransom man only by becoming man. He could purchase life for the perfect Adam and the race
who lost life in him only by becoming a perfect man.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a man's life
for a man's life," was the demand of the Divine Law.
Adam had sinned, and must be redeemed before he could
be restored, either physically, mentally, or morally, or
could be returned to God's favor.
Jesus had come to make
possible this full restoration.
His life was devoted to
the service of others, and He completed this great service
in His death on the cross.
Throughout His earthly
sojourn He gave us a noble example of the proper life of
those who would be followers in His footsteps.

OUR SERVICE PARTICULARLY FOR THE NEW CREATION

Many misunderstand the Bible and think that now is
the time to save the world.
Hence they are spending all
their time and energies to comfort and uplift humanity.
They are indeed engaged in laudable efforts; for every
good work or effort is to be commended.
But to those
who are rightly informed respecting the Divine Plan there
is another, a far higher work, to be done now.
The work
of God in the present Age has not been the reformation
of the world, but the development of the New Creation.
This work is not yet fully completed.
If we would work
the work of God, our works must relate to the New [R5786 : page 313] Creation preeminently.
We may do good unto all men as
we have opportunity, as the Apostle says, but especially
are we to serve the Household of Faith.

Jesus was in line for this work of ministry.
Although
there were no New Creatures as yet, while He was here
in the flesh, His work was to prepare for these New
Creatures.
His work was the gathering out of some who
would be faithful footstep followers of Himself, and the
laying down of His life on their behalf and on behalf of
the whole world.

In the context we note the fact that two of Jesus'
disciples were especially desirous at this time of sitting
upon the Throne with the Master in His Kingdom, one
upon His right and the other upon His left.
Jesus did not
condemn them for this desire, but pointed out to them
how difficult were the conditions, and asked them whether
they were able to comply with these conditions.
They replied,
"We are able." They were willing, at least.
That
their answer was pleasing to Jesus was manifested by His
words, "Ye shall indeed drink of My cup, and be baptized
with My baptism."
They asked for places in the Kingdom
very near to Him.
Jesus informed them that He was
not Himself able to give them such placesthat the places
would not be given according to favor, but according to
justice; and that the Father would dispense these.

ARE WE MEETING THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS?

The place that we occupy in the Kingdom will depend
much upon the extent to which we become ministers, or
servants.
And if we simply try to get as much as possible
out of others and to give as little as possible, we shall not
be such characters as the Lord is seeking for rulership in
the Kingdom; in fact, we would not gain the Kingdom at
all.
He is seeking a very choice class.
This class will all be
servants, willing and glad to serve, esteeming it a great
privilege to lay down their lives in the service of the
brethren, to the extent of their ability and opportunity;
for the service of the brethren is the service of God, to
whom they have rendered themselves in consecration, to
whom they have professed to devote their lives.